Reset
by mediahybrid117
Summary: After waking up from a nap, Sans discovered that his brother was killed. He is then no longer the jolly, joking skeleton everyone knew him to be. My first Undertale fic, lemme know what you think. Spoilers, or course. And blood and swears, don't expect anything less of me. Rated T


His eyes shot open, snapping him back to consciousness. What a nightmare. He leaned forward from the stand he was stationed at and rubbed his temples, his bone fingers lightly scraping his skull. He took a deep breath, his ribcage expanded and collapsed with the sigh. He shook his head. His nonexistent stomach began to growl. He managed a small smile, standing up and shaking the snow out of his slippers, "Papyrus?" he called, looking around. Something was off. Everything was too quiet. He shivered and took another deep breath, yawning, "Hey, Paps, I'm going to Grillby's, ya want anything?" he called, looking around.

There was still no response.

He frowned, then cupped his hands around his mouth, "Your spaghetti sucks!" he yelled. Not actually meaning it, but he was just hoping to get his brother's attention somehow. Maybe Papyrus would yell in outrage, not at his brother's comment, but praising himself otherwise, that no one would be able to make any spaghetti better than he did.

Sans sank, there was still no reply from the taller skeleton, "C'mon, Papyrus, throw me a _bone_ here!" he said, making the pun intentionally. After a long silence, he began to get irritated, "Where is he?" he asked and began wandering around. With every other step, he teleported behind every stand, gate, bush, tree and building he came across. He was almost home. He sighed and stepped into Grillby's, "Hey, buddy, have you seen Papyrus?" he asked the flaming bartender.

Grillby stepped out from behind the counter and stuck his head out the door, looked not at Sans' and Papyrus' home, but beyond that. He pointed at a pathway that led alongside water.

"Thanks bud." Sans smiled, relieved that Papyrus was just out of earshot. He began walking in that direction. Grillby sank and stepped back inside his bar. He looked around, seeing that the building was vacant.

As Sans approached the area, his expression began to change. From relieved to confused. Papyrus wasn't anywhere to be found. "Papyrus?" he called. Then his eyes rested on a particular spot on the snow. And while he knew that shadows on the snow where typically blue because of the color, he found it strange that there was… a grey spot. He shook his head, finding a blotch of red and some blue as well. He took his hands out of his pockets and ran to the pile. His breaths became heavy and shaky as he dropped to his knees beside what remained of his taller brother.

"Sans, I'm going to fight that human, soon." Papyrus' voice rang in his head, "But… maybe there is some good in them… I could… you know-"

"Papyrus, don't." Sans had cut him off, "That human even scares me…" He said, staring at yet another plate of spaghetti that Papyrus had prepared for the two of them. The pasta was still crunchy and the sauce was still lightly burned. "I know you want to capture that human and prove yourself to Undyne, but…" he sank.

Papyrus leaned over to look at him, "But what? You don't think _I, the Great Papyrus_ , can't handle it?" his tone shifted drastically.

"It's not that, I-" Sans shook his head.

"You're wrong!" Papyrus cut him off, "You're just like Undyne!" he stood up from his chair, "Neither of you think I have it in me to capture a human. _Neither_ of you think I'm fit to be in the royal guard!" he snapped.

Sans remained silent, staring down at the food that he had now been picking at for the past twenty minutes. "Papyrus…" he said, trying to keep his head, while inside, he was trembling. He was tempted to stand up and snap back at him. But _someone_ in the family had to keep their cool in an argument.

"Neither of you believe in me!"

Until now. Sans stood up, his left eye glowing brightly while this other eye remained empty, "You now that is not the truth, Paps," Sans said coldly, shocking Papyrus to see him so… out of character. "I'm worried about you." He said, his eyes fading back to normal. After this, Papyrus found himself able to move again. "We believe in you as a person, bro." Sans visibly relaxed and put his hands back into his pockets, "But… if you try and capture this human, and if you try for the royal guard, a nice guy like you? You're gonna get hurt." Sans closed his eyes, "I… don't want to see that…"

"Sans…?" Papyrus studied Sans for a moment.

"Papyrus, when I shook that human's hand, my hand got dirty… it took me too long to realize that they were covered in dust…That human has killed too many already. I've been having nightmares about it. Just… please… don't fight them…" he looked down and said quietly.

Papyrus sank. He knelt and hugged Sans, "With Undyne in Waterfall… who's going to protect Snowdin?" he asked.

"If something happens to you, who will be my brother?" Sans answered with another question.

Sans held the dusty cape that he had made for Papyrus. His hands trembled. He didn't think Papyrus would go out and fight the human anyway.

But why was he surprised?

The taller skeleton had pride that could supply Dr. Alphys and Napstablook to be just as excitable as he was. He had a smile that never faded. And as the bigger, more active and more powerful brother, he had an obligation that weighed on him so much that he would be as short as Sans himself.

As far as family went, he didn't _have_ anyone else beside Papyrus. His only other friend was Grillby, but he'd been walking on thin ice since he _still_ had to pay for his tab. Sans sighed and put on the cape after brushing off most of the dust. Papyrus loved this costume… taking off _all_ of the dust would've been disrespectful. His eyes watered as the left eye glowed. He wished he didn't get into that fight. He materialized two bones on the side of the path in shape of a cross, placing the breastplate that Papyrus loved on top, and the rest of the empty costume underneath. In the blue magic, he wrote across the armor the name of his fallen brother. The small memorial was formed with the wave of his hand. After taking a moment of silence, only interrupted slightly by the silent rattle of his bones. He reached into the pocket of his shorts and retrieved his cell phone, dialing Undyne. "Heh… hey Paps… now that kid's gonna have a bad time… don't you think?" he asked as the phone rang three times before an answer. "Undyne?"

"Sans? What do you want, to tell another one of your stupid knock-knock jokes?" a harsh, woman's voice snapped.

"No… I'm… I'm not here to tell jokes… I won't be for a while…" he said solemnly.

"Are… are you okay? You sound different."

"No… just- do me a solid… okay? If you see a human in a blue striped sweater… kill them." He said darkly.

"Kill!? Sans… that's dark even for you!"

"Undyne, please understand…" his voice cracked.

Undyne was silent for a moment, "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Papyrus…" he breathed, tears pouring from his sockets.

"Wh-what about Papyrus?" Undyne was now starting to get worried.

"The human… Papyrus is…"

"Sans… are you crying?"

Sans finally spat it out, "The human _killed_ Papyrus, Undyne!" he snapped, "My brother is dead because of that human!" he cupped his hands to his face and dropped the phone, letting his body shake with every sob that forced its way through his ribcage. The fit didn't last very long. Sans took a deep breath and clamed himself quickly. He picked up the phone, "Sorry…" he said. "Just… do me that favor… okay?"

Undyne was silent for a while, "Yeah, Sans… I'll avenge Papyrus for you…" she agreed.

"I'd do it myself… but… you know how my 'stats' are… you're stronger than I am."

"Sometimes I wonder… just… take care of yourself, okay? If you can't evacuate, then stay indoors and lock everything, okay?"

"No prob." Sans stood up, "Thanks."

"You're welcome… and Sans?"

"Yeah?" Sans watched the small memorial he had set for Papyrus.

"I'm sorry about your brother… he was a good man. Nice, excitable… he didn't deserve any of it…"

Sans wiped his face free of tears, "Thank you, Undyne…" he said and hung up.

Grillby wiped down the counters of his bar. He knew Sans was coming back. He knew things weren't going to end well, but he knew that Sans, though he was too laid back and very lazy, was unpredictable. He had his own magic powers that he was very skilled with, he didn't even have to lift a finger. The thing with telekinetics though, is that they have a very secret, very hidden rage within them sometimes. Though Sans was a laid back, joking, pranking type of person, even the worst of _them_ snap in ways that would shock people.

Sans looked legitimately defeated when he walked in the doors to the bar. Grillby watched the small skeleton shuffle across the room. He took a brief moment to notice the red cape that Sans now wore. He sighed and prepared a hot dog and a large bottle of ketchup. "Look kid, I-"

"I'm not in the mood." Sans cut him off.

Grillby flinched at the tone in his voice. "Just wanted to say that I'm sorry for your brother."

Sans' eye glowed blue and Grillby had been thrown against a wall, "You knew?" he growled, keeping Grillby in place for a moment. He froze, "I'm sorry…" his eye went back to normal, allowing Grillby to stand back on his own. "I'm sorry…" he fell to his knees, his body had begun to shake again. "I- I didn't mean to…"

Grillby took a moment and approached Sans, he knelt by him and wrapped an arm around him. "I know, kid…" Grillby sighed, wrapping his other arm around the shorter skeleton in front of him, "I'm gonna miss him too…" he said. His eyes steamed as his tears quickly evaporated. Papyrus provided as much life to the village as the children did. He was very much like a child himself. Sans loved him very much. Not very many people had patience for him sometimes as much as Sans did. It was very clear- though with skeletons it was difficult to tell- that Sans was the older brother. Sans never discouraged Papyrus in anyway. And now that 'child' was gone. "It… it was that human, wasn't it…?" Grillby asked.

Sans curled in on himself and made himself seem smaller than he already was. Grillby took this action as a 'yes'. "That brat won't make it past Undyne…" he growled.

Grillby paused, "How can we be so sure…?" he began to feel Sans shaking.

"If they do… then I'll kill them myself…" he said.

Grillby was shocked at the dark tone coming from the local 'pun-master'. He backed away from the hug that he was giving Sans and looked him in the eye, both sockets were empty and lifeless. He only sighed. "Just… don't get yourself killed… okay?" he asked, "We can't be _short_ two skeletons." he tried smiling at his own terrible pun.

Sans scoffed and wiped his eye with his sleeve, "Is that a short joke?"

"How was it?" Grillby asked unsure.

"On a scale of one to ten? Grill-even."

Grillby began laughing, happy that Sans' funny bone was still intact. "There's the Sans I was missing." He stood up and helped Sans to his feet, "Come on, I prepared a hot dog for you."

"Thanks…" Sans managed a small smile, but it quickly faded, he then began to worry about whether or not Undyne would be able to handle the human. He doused the hotdog in ketchup and took a bite while Grillby began mixing a drink. Sans' chewing slowed down before he swallowed. He shook his head and retrieved his phone.

"Forget what I said about Undyne…" Grillby said, "I'm sure she'll be alright."

Sans dialed Undyne anyways, ignoring the flaming bartender's comment. The phone continued to ring. Undyne didn't answer, and instead Sans was sent to her voicemail. "Heh…" Sans smiled nervously, "Maybe she's busy…" he called again. Once again, he was eventually sent to her voicemail. He chuckled nervously, desperately calling again. When he was sent to her voicemail a third time, his eyes blacked out. His only other option was to call the one other person that she spent the most time with besides Papyrus.

He retrieved Alphys' contact information and called her.

Grillby looked at him nervously and placed the drink on the counter.

"He-hello?" a crackly voice responded.

"Alphys, is Undyne with you?"

Without a moment's hesitation, Alphys began wailing, "Undyne was…" she whimpered.

Sans grew cold, his eyes widening in fear.

"She was st-struck down by… by the human!" she sobbed.

Sans stood up immediately, "That human killed Papyrus too." He said coldly, "Have you been evacuated?"

"Y-Yes. As is everyone else. Either that or everyone is hiding. Wh-where are you?"

"I'm at Grillby's." Sans answered.

"Good. Stay there. King Asgore is staying in his throne room and waiting for the human… they… destroyed Mettaton too…" she sniffled.

Sans pinched the space between his eye sockets. "Not if I meet the human first."

"No, Sans, don-"

Sans hung up before Alphys could talk him out of his decision. He looked at the half eaten hot dog for a moment and sunk, "I'll have to come back later to finish that." He started to turn and leave.

Grillby jumped and grabbed the cloth on Sans' hoodie, "Kid- don't be so hasty, think about this. You've got skills, but you've got the worst defense out of _anyone_ I've ever met. You won't be able to even take a punch from that kid, and if they have a knife? God knows you won't be able to walk away from that. Besides, you won't be able to make it there in time."

Sans glared at him with a glowing eye, "Let go of my jacket, Hothead, if I don't go, the kid will _kill_ the King. They've already gone through Undyne _and_ Mettaton. Someone else _has_ to try for the King's sake and for the rest of the Underground. If I survive, I'll come back and pay my tab, deal?" he asked. "It's enormous, isn't it?" he said before brushing off the bartender and leaving, "Besides, I know a shortcut…" he said, vanishing as the door swung shut.

The hallway glowed a beautiful orange as Sans waited at the end of the corridor that led to the throne room. He had already warned Asgore that the human was coming. As he waited, he took in how everything felt. Besides the sudden panic of the human's rampage, it was a decent day. Until, of course…

Papyrus' death.

Sans had already observed the beauty of the birds outside, the scents of the blooming flowers, and how blue the sky was outside of the barrier. Sans was fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of it while he was speaking with the King. However, with that little reminder that he was now the only skeleton left in Snowdin, his body grew tense. His eye glowed brightly as he stared at the doorway, waiting patiently. The pillars around him had begun to crack slightly, glowing dimly with the blue magic. Finally, the child approached him equipped with a knife. Their clothes were coated in dust and oil. The child slowed to a stop several feet away from Sans.

"Let's just get to the point." Sans said, having no intentions of making any jokes. Now wasn't the time for any puns. "I've been patient and pretty chill with just about everything in my life. I've never held a grudge. I've never had anyone on my shit list. But now… I can't afford to _not_ care anymore." He said, then forced a cruel, twisted smile and closed his eyes, "Today, it was a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming. But those birds and flowers are covered in dust." He opened one glowing eye, "And you killed my brother and everyone else in your path. Kids like you should be burning in hell!" he snarled, waving a hand, sending the child flying to the left and threatening to stab the child with sharp bones. He repeated this process to the right, the ceiling, and the floor.

But the human managed to avoid each of the attacks. Sans materialized more bones and sent them flying at the child.

Sans growled, now materializing two skulls behind him that he had dubbed 'Gaster Blasters' and fired both of them at the human. However the human still managed to dodge them. He quickly stepped to the side and narrowly dodged a swing of the child's knife. It then briefly crossed Sans' mind: he couldn't quite recall catching the kid's name. He stepped back to get some distance between him and the monster that challenged him, and threw them with telekinesis again.

It had been a long time since Sans had exerted himself. He couldn't remember the last time he had to use his powers this much. He then began having flashbacks. A group of humans had invaded the Underground and was terrorizing a few of the monsters, Papyrus included. Sans was much younger then and Papyrus was still only a kid. As a human threatened to hurt Papyrus with their sword, Sans had jumped in the way instead and took the hit to his ribs. But he still stood, a few ribs cracked and broken. Both of his eyes glowed brightly and sent the offending human. With the random burst of energy escaping the skeleton, the other humans had run off, leaving Sans exhausted and barely standing. After seeing the humans run toward Asgore's castle, where the barrier was, Sans waved off the issue and turned to check on Papyrus, who had fallen unconscious. He was so much smaller back then. Sans picked up the child skeleton and took him home, still ignoring his own injury. Papyrus finally woke up after a while. He looked around and asked where he was and who Sans was. Then he panicked, "Where did the humans go!?" he asked.

Sans was already beginning to grow tired, and didn't want this child to be scared. He wanted to build up his confidence, seeing how badly he was trembling, "You scared them off, buddy."

Papyrus looked down, "I- I did?" he asked

"Yep." Sans rested his back against the couch, "You must've blacked out, but… your great power made them go crying home." He said, his eyes were beginning to drift shut.

"Big Kid, are you okay?"

"I'm just a little… 'bone' tired?" he smiled at the child, having him giggle.

"Oh, okay then." Papyrus sat where he was contentedly, "So… I, Papyrus, scared off the humans?"

Sans closed his eyes, "The one and only Great Papyrus."

The child beamed, "Do you think I can part of the Royal Guard?"

"Sure."

Sans snapped back to reality, seeing the human dodge another attack. His eyes glowed fiercely and he swung his hand out of his pocket, slamming the human into every wall in the room. His eyes watered, Sans had saved Papyrus from monsters like them, and now he's _dead_ because of the very battered monster he threw around the room. His ribs began to sting. Even though they had healed, they were still weak and very likely to break again. He finally rose the human up to hit the ceiling, then dropped his hand out of exhaustion, allowing the human to fall, hitting the ground like a sack of potatoes. Yet the human still got up and prepared the knife. Sans' eyes watered as he dropped to his knees, sobs shaking his entire body.

The human watched him with confusion for a moment. They then ran toward him and prepared to swing.

Sans dodged and teleported behind him, "You think I'm just gonna stand there and-" he gasped, the knife running from his left shoulder to his lower right ribs. He fell back and held a hand to the gash, forgetting completely that he could bleed. "S-So…" he coughed, blood seeping between his teeth and out his mouth, "Guess that's it, huh…?" he forced himself up, "You won't last much longer…" he warned, "The only other obstacle is King Asgore. This is your warning…" he said and began walking away, "I'm going to Grillby's…" he stated. _Again?_ Papyrus' voice asked in outrage in Sans' head, having played this song one too many times, _You just got off break!_ "Papyrus…?" Sans managed a half-hearted chuckle, "You want anything?" he asked, vanishing with his next step.

Grillby's body flickered. He looked up, seeing the door to his bar opening. Hope rose within his body, after seeing the familiar shadow. However, he heard coughing and heavy breathing. He quickly stepped around the counter and caught Sans before he hit the floor, "D-did you win…?" he asked, though the answer was obvious.

Sans was silent for a moment, "Asgore's got'em…" he whispered.

Grillby sank. The Underground was doomed. His body dimmed to a deep red, almost turning blue, but he burned brighter after Sans began coughing again, "Just… try to breathe… okay? Close your eyes…"

"I miss Papyrus…" Sans groaned, his eyes watering again.

"I know, kid… I know…" Grillby's eyes steamed. "Cl-close your eyes, Sans… Wh-when the pain stops… then open them… okay?" he sniffled, "Everything will be back the way it was… With… Papyrus, and Undyne, and _everyone_ else that the human destroyed…"

Sans closed his eyes and smiled, "Wouldn't that be nice…" he said shakily.

Before Grillby knew it, he was holding only a blue jacket and a red cape in his arms, dust covered his lap and floor. He sniffled again, closing his eyes, "Rest in peace, boys…"

Sans opened his eyes and found himself in his room. He sat up from his bed and threw a hand across his chest, panting. No blood. He lifted his shirt to see if any of his ribs were cracked more than they were before, but they were intact. He shook his head and shook, "Grillby must know some sort of healing magic…" he took a deep breath and retrieved his hoodie, which had been dropped lazily off the edge of the bed. After throwing it on, he stood up and threw on his slippers. The front door downstairs creaked open. He opened the door to his room, "Grills?" he called out, half-expecting that the fiery bartender had brought him home.

"Undyne, I _will_ catch a human if it's the last thing I do!" a familiar voice shouted before the door slammed shut.

Sans looked downstairs, "Papyrus? Papyrus!" he called and ran downstairs, throwing his arms and weight around the taller skeleton.

Papyrus looked down at Sans in confusion. "What's the matter with you?" he asked. Then he felt Sans shaking, "Sans?" he asked, realizing that he was crying. He sighed and knelt to hug him back, "Everything is okay, Sans…" he said sincerely. "Whatever it was… it was just a bad dream…" he said.

"I'm just happy you're here…" Sans sobbed.

Papyrus couldn't recall _ever_ seeing Sans this way, and it bugged him. "Y-you… wanna talk about it?" he asked.

Sans shook his head.

"What do you want to do?" he asked and made Sans look him in the eye, "Undyne and I are done training for the day, so I'm open." He said sympathetically. "She's got human-watch."

Sans nodded, the farther away from humans Papyrus was, the better. Whether or not he was in heaven or was only dreaming was still unknown to him. He shrugged, "I can go for some spaghetti."

Papyrus beamed, "Spaghetti wounds great!" he howled, standing straight up with Sans tucked under one arm. "To the kitchen!" he announced, causing Sans to smile wider than he had all day.


End file.
